Krueger said that the state’s support of manufacturing assault weapons, which are illegal to sell in New York, is irresponsible and not a proper use of taxpayer money. She said she understands the need to encourage economic development, but the positive and negative impacts should also be considered.

In the letter to Empire State Development CEO Kenneth Adams, Krueger said she is urging to end all state subsidies and tax expenditures for the gun industry. She also mentioned the shooting in Newtown and Gov. Cuomo’s call for stronger gun restrictions.

New York World and the Maine Center for the Public Interest reported that New York provided $5.5 million in subsidies and grants since 2007 to Remington Arms, which has operations in Illion, Herkimer County. Krueger said that Remington Arms produces the Bushmaster model, which was one of the weapons used in the Newtown shooting.

The only other state that provided more financial support than New York to the weapons industry was Massachusetts. Other states that provided subsidies in the last decade were Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire and Oklahoma, the report said.

Below is Sen. Krueger’s full letter:

January 2, 2012

Kenneth Adams
President and CEO
Empire State Development (ESD)
333 Third Avenue
New York NY 10017

Dear President Adams:

I write to express my concern over recent reports that Empire State Development has offered significant subsidies to gun manufacturers, including for the production of assault weapons that are illegal to sell in New York State. The recent murders in Newtown, Connecticut are just the latest occurrence of horrifying gun violence. At a time when Governor Cuomo is calling for stronger restrictions on the deadly weapons, it makes no sense for our state to be facilitating their production. I urge you to end all NYS subsidies to and tax expenditures for the gun industry.

According to the New York World and a national analysis by the Maine Center for the Public Interest, New York has provided $5.5 million in subsidies and grants to Remington Arms since 2007. Only one other state in the country provided more subsidies to the gun industry during this period. Among the products produced by Remington at the New York plant that received these benefits is the Bushmaster model used in the murders in Newtown. It is truly outrageous to think that New Yorker’s tax dollars are being used to subsidize production of these weapons, which, when equipped with high capacity magazines, are instruments of mass killing.

While I understand the need to encourage economic development, particularly in economically depressed regions of the state, I also know it is critical that our economic development policy take into account the positive and negative impacts of the companies and industries we consider supporting. We evaluate potential environmental damage before even allowing, let alone subsidizing, certain economic activities. We must similarly evaluate the social costs of encouraging production of weapons that result in so many deaths, and that place even the youngest and most helpless members of our society at risk of a brutal and senseless death.

The tragic murders in Newtown have prompted soul searching among many of our leaders, and as a longtime supporter of strengthening our gun laws, I am pleased that Governor Cuomo has joined the chorus of those calling for stringent new gun control measures. But it would be inconsistent and counterproductive to strengthen our state gun laws while continuing to subsidize the production of some of the most dangerous of these weapons.

I urge you to end all subsidies of the gun industry and to adopt policies that ensure a socially responsible economic development policy.

1 Comment

NYVoter

YES !! Let us compound this Tragedy by putting New Yorkers out of work and forcing NY Companies to move from our State.
THIS will make our State safer and send a clear message to the Criminals & Mentally Ill that , New York Politicians are fools